S4E9: Seattle Colleges Conversations with! International Student Meral Kandymova of Turkmenistan

In this our 9th (ninth) episode of Season 4, Seattle Colleges host Evan Franulovich interviews for a second time former international student Meral Kandymova of Turkmenistan about her experience here at Seattle Colleges, about what she's been up to, and about life in the United States. 

1:19 - Meet Meral again!

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Transcript

Evan Franulovich  0:05  
Welcome to Seattle Colleges International Programs and our show Conversations with! where we talk to people that help you understand how you too, can be an international student in the United States and why Seattle Colleges should be your first choice. We'll talk to students and staff and agents and government folks, all kinds of people about what you can expect when you're getting ready to apply or travel here, what you'll experience while you're with us, and how it can all lead to an amazing life. Don't forget to check out the Seattle Colleges International Programs website at intl.seattlecolleges.edu where you can find a treasure trove of information about the school, the programs here and best of all, fill out and submit your application. Again, that's intl.seattlecolleges.edu.

Evan Franulovich  1:05  
Hey everybody! Welcome back to Conversations with! In Seattle, Washington, here at Seattle Central. Super excited to have Merry back on our show. I don't know if you guys remember, if you haven't listened, she was my very first podcast. 

Meral Kandymova  1:26  
And here I am. 

Evan Franulovich  1:27  
And here you are. Welcome back. I actually wanted to get Merry on to the show for the first episode of season four, but our schedules just didn't jive. But glad you're here today. Thanks for coming in.

Meral Kandymova  1:38  
Thank you for having me, Evan. It's really nice to come back to campus and see all these faces.

Evan Franulovich  1:46  
Yeah. Well, the really cool thing is, the first season, I didn't do video. So we didn't have video of our conversation.

Meral Kandymova  1:54  
That's something new. I was surprised. 

Evan Franulovich  1:56  
So now you'll get to see Merry. How cool is that? But some of you who haven't caught that first show may not understand who she is or where she's coming from, so we'll do a little bit of finding out about her and then see what's been going on. 

Meral Kandymova  2:11  
Introductions, okay. Hi everyone. 

Evan Franulovich  2:15  
Who are you? 

Meral Kandymova  2:16  
My name is Meral Kandymova, but it's very complicated name. It's very long, so I'm just Merry for everyone. But Merry like Merry Christmas, not mary. I am from Turkmenistan. I got to the US and to Seattle Central College back in 2022 right after I graduated from high school, it was a super exciting thing to me because I was only 17 years old. Fresh from high school to be here like in American movies, American college. Yeah, here I am.

Evan Franulovich  3:02  
Here you are. So Merry would have been one of the first people that I met in my new job, because I started 2022. 

Meral Kandymova  3:03  
Oh, wow.

Evan Franulovich  3:07  
I started in August. So the fall intake. 

Meral Kandymova  3:14  
Yeah, orientation, I remember you with a camera.

Evan Franulovich  3:20  
So it was really exciting time, all these new faces, and you were just getting started. So you came here as a 17 year old. I can't remember, were you freaked out? Or you were just like, 'No, let's get out of here.'

Meral Kandymova  3:35  
I mean, I was kind of scared, because I never met so many foreigners in my life. I mean, in Turkmenistan, we don't have any tourists. We mainly have diplomats, people who work for the embassies. And when I just got here, I was like, 'Oh my gosh, all these people speak English so fast, so many accents, so many cultures.' I was like, 'where am I?' But, you know, I think this level of excitement to start something new, new chapter of life, new connections, new people, just excited to be here, kind of overlapped that kind of scary feeling. And I was like, 'Let's go on. Let's try. Let's talk to people.' And I think it worked out because I'm a second time on your podcast. 

Evan Franulovich  4:29  
Well, your enthusiasm has been really great. One of the things I love about Merry is that she is not afraid to talk to people, or at least that's been my impression. Maybe you feel shy at times, but doesn't come out very well. I always see you're talking to so many people. One of the great things about being a student is not just education, but it's also the networking. Can you tell people about the opportunities you've had over the last few years to network and get to know people?

Meral Kandymova  4:56  
Well, I would say my very first kind of shocking experience, in a good way, I don't remember the actual name of that activity, it was through Zoom, involvement week or something like that. Again, I don't remember the actual name, but it was kind of like the whole week, like five days that we would have a lot of people from different professional backgrounds, for example, from the Social Security office, from the Bank of America, kind of like those representatives from different fields, different professions. They would join very short Zoom sessions and talk to students about what they do, what kind of internship opportunities they have with their job place. They would just offer their contact information be like, if you have any questions, if you're thinking to intern with us, or, I don't know if you're just interested, here's my contact information, we can meet sometime. That was very cool, because I was like, 'Oh my gosh, so many opportunities.' And when I got to Seattle Central, I was thinking to do a political science associates degree. I'm very interested in politics and kind of law industry. Yeah, I've met with a lot of people from the Social Security Administration, from Department of Trade, so I just kind of introduced myself, like, 'Hey, I'm that student who joined your Zoom session from Seattle Central College. I was just kind of interested in what you do. Can we talk more about that?' 

Evan Franulovich  6:51  
Did they respond? 

Meral Kandymova  6:53  
Oh, yeah, they responded. I even met with some people in-person, we just grabbed some cup of coffee. Yeah, that was nice.

Evan Franulovich  7:04  
You did the Zoom session after you arrived? Or did you do the zoom session before you left Turkmenistan? 

Meral Kandymova  7:10  
Oh, when I was already here. So my first quarter here was fall 2022, so I would think that that I had that opportunity during winter 2023. My second quarter here. 

Evan Franulovich  7:28  
Right, right. So when you first arrived, we'll go back and talk a little bit about what you were studying. You came here and got right into which program? 

Meral Kandymova  7:38  
Institute of English. So I didn't do my English proficiency placement test when I was in Turkmenistan, because I wanted to come here as fast as I can. And when I arrived, I did the online testing when I was already here, I was kind of enrolled to school, so they determined that my speaking and listening is done, it's good. 

Evan Franulovich  8:05  
You're good to go. 

Meral Kandymova  8:06  
Yeah, good to go. But my reading and writing needed some work. 

Evan Franulovich  8:10  
That's pretty common. 

Meral Kandymova  8:12  
So I was placed into Reading & Writing 4 out of five levels. So technically, I had to study two more levels to kind of advance my reading, and I would say more writing, because I knew  kind of basic stuff about how to write essays, but I still needed some professional help. So that's how I went to Institute of English.

Evan Franulovich  8:44  
Gotcha. And what you guys need to know that are out there listening is, we no longer do it that way. Now, when you apply to Seattle Colleges, one of the criteria in order to get accepted is you do have to take a proof of English proficiency exam of some sort. It could be Duolingo, IELTS, TOEFL, we no longer bring people in and then you test once you get here. We've changed the rules since you were here, but it's not a big deal. It seems like a lot of our students take Duolingo because it's fairly inexpensive and it's very fast. You get your results very quickly. But IELTS seems to be really popular as well, so make sure you take that and by the way, don't panic. It doesn't determine whether you get accepted so much. It really helps us to know where to place you once you get here. 

Meral Kandymova  9:30  
Yeah, and honestly, I was kind of sad when I learned that I had to go to the Institute of English to improve my reading and writing. But then when I got to the classes, I think I spoke about it on our previous podcast, is that those classes are not just kind of like teaching you English, I remember that the professor asked, 'What do you want to study?' Like, after you're going to be actually enrolled into your associate's degree programs, everyone said different things. And based on that, I think the Professor made kind of like a curriculum that would cover a little bit of all the fields that students want to learn. So I remember that I was learning about some business stuff. I was learning about political stuff, all mix of that. So it wasn't just simply English. It was kind of like, 'Oh, you want to write an essay. We're gonna go over... 

Evan Franulovich  10:35  
Specialized vocabulary? 

Meral Kandymova  10:37  
Yeah. So that was kind of surprising. It was really interesting, because you kind of cover your future field of study that you're gonna do, and at the same time you're advancing your writing and reading skills.

Evan Franulovich  10:55  
So do you feel like the time you spent at the Institute of English, your English really improved a lot? Or do you feel like your English has really proved a lot just because you you're here and use it every day?

Meral Kandymova  11:08  
I mean, again, I would say 50-50, because my listening and speaking was on a good to go level. So of course, I improved that a lot because I had to talk English, I had no other option. Talking to my friends, because those were such a nice times. I had a group of friends from a very interesting scale of countries. It was both Eastern Europe, some countries in Africa, from South America. It was just kind of like this group of people with whom I still in touch. And sometimes when they come to Seattle to visit, we try to catch up. I had to talk English, so my speaking improved a lot, and my listening improved a lot, because when I just got here, I was struggling to understand people who had some kind of heavy accents. So that was really hard for me, because back in Turkmenistan, even though I went to a boarding school, my professors were from United Kingdom, they were from Manchester. 

Evan Franulovich  12:30  
Very British. 

Meral Kandymova  12:34  
Studying British vocabulary, listening to British professors, and then coming to the US and listening to people with different accents, it was a little bit of a nightmare for me. 

Evan Franulovich  12:48  
Big change, yeah. 

Meral Kandymova  12:49  
But it was just for first month, because I was listening, I was talking, and I was open to learn. And I think with time, I got used to that. And of course, my writing is now really good. I learned how to write essays.

Evan Franulovich  13:10  
She's right, we have five levels in our Institute of English. In levels three through five, you can actually take college classes at the same time you're taking English. Did you also take college classes while you were in the institute? What did you take? 

Meral Kandymova  13:26  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  13:28  
This was a while ago. 

Meral Kandymova  13:29  
I don't remember the actual names of the classes. So my first quarter, I took reading and writing 4 and it was kind of a class which was kind of like an introduction to American life. 

Evan Franulovich  13:47  
Being a student in the United States. 

Meral Kandymova  13:49  
Yeah, being a student. I remember that. 

Evan Franulovich  13:51  
Two credit course, right? 

Meral Kandymova  13:52  
Yeah, and the second quarter, I don't remember. Honestly, I do not remember. But I remember my professor, Richard, during Reading & Writing 5, he was an amazing professor. 

Evan Franulovich  14:10  
Shout out to Richard. 

Meral Kandymova  14:13  
He helped a lot to discover more about political science for me, because I was really interested. It was exciting and happy moments.

Evan Franulovich  14:25  
So you've talked about political science in our first visit together. But I don't remember if I asked you why you're so interested in political science. I mean, I I'm interested in political science too. I find it really interesting. But at what point in your life were you really drawn to that field?

Meral Kandymova  14:45  
I would say, my mother, she introduced me to that field because during USSR, she was member of the party. 

Evan Franulovich  14:59  
Oh. 

Meral Kandymova  15:00  
But she didn't go through deep because in the USSR ideology, if you're from any other Republic than Russia, you cannot go into higher levels. My mother was from Turkmenistan, she's a Turkmen girl, but she had this dream, and she never made it so far. And I mean, I'm not good in STEM, so I'm more into humanitarian way, and I'm really good in languages. I know six languages in total, so it's Turkmen, Russian, English, German. 

Evan Franulovich  15:46  
Oh, you speak German? 

Meral Kandymova  15:46  
Yeah, French, Chinese. 

Evan Franulovich  15:48  
And Chinese?

Meral Kandymova  15:49  
A little bit, but it was a while ago. It was a while ago. 

Evan Franulovich  15:53  
Yeah, cool. 

Meral Kandymova  15:54  
It was in Turkmenistan, and I got diplomas from every single language that I finished, but again, in Turkmenistan, we don't have any foreigners, so there's no way you can practice. You can't listen to Native people talking in those languages. So that's why I totally forgot  98%. But I'm thinking about taking those classes again whenever I'm gonna have a chance. So I was good in languages, and my mother catched that since I was 10 or 11, and she was kind of like telling me all these stories about how her life went, just how politics and government work. And I was like, 'Oh, that sounds interesting to me.' Helping people, advocating for them. And then my last two years of high school back in Turkmenistan, so it was 2020, through 2022, I started to volunteer with the United Nations house, so that kind of was my first steps in advocating and diplomacy. Then I got introduced to staff people from the British embassy. Then I kind of went to US embassy, European Union delegation, and that's how I kind of got more into international core of Turkmenistan, so I got to know those people. I was kind of like more involved in that industry. And it was like, 'That's really interesting.' But I don't really want to do international affairs. I wouldn't see myself kind of being an officer at the US Embassy abroad. So I would want to stay here in the US and kind of work here. So when I got here to the US, I was like, I didn't know nothing about American politics. I didn't know nothing about how government works. I didn't know, what is Senator, what is representative? I had no idea. And actually, here on campus, I remember it was orientation week, and guys from the student leadership, they came to our orientation, and they were like, 'Hey, guys, we have this kind of clubs and committees. If you're ever interested, let us know.' And I was like, let me try to talk to them. Maybe they're gonna have something about advocacy or government, because I don't remember that they mentioned specific clubs. They were like, 'We're happy to talk to you.' And remember, I went to Danya Vargas, she is currently poli sci student at UW. She graduated from here last year, I think. And I was like, 'Hey, that's me. I'm really interested in politics and stuff. Do you have any club?' And she was like, 'Yeah, we have student advocacy club.' I was like, 'Oh, that's cool.' And through that committee being involved in there, I learned a lot about how government works. And we even had a lobby day down in Olympia. 

Evan Franulovich  19:10  
Oh. 

Meral Kandymova  19:10  
Yeah, we went there with our student leadership,

Evan Franulovich  19:13  
And just so they know why Olympia, what is in Olympia?

Meral Kandymova  19:16  
Olympia is the capital of Washington, which is was so shocking to me. I was like, I thought Seattle was a capital, because that's the largest and most famous city, but Olympia, it's more south, almost Oregon.

Evan Franulovich  19:33  
It's couple hours from Seattle probably, depending on the traffic, of course.

Meral Kandymova  19:39  
It's very beautiful, and especially the state legislature building, stunning. Yeah, it's the capital of Washington, a lot of federal government agencies have headquarters there. The legislators are there. So I went there for advocacy day, it was such an amazing experience for me, because everything was new to me. I was just like, oh my gosh. 

Evan Franulovich  20:11  
That's really cool.

Meral Kandymova  20:12  
That was really cool.

Evan Franulovich  20:14  
So if you become a student at Seattle Colleges, and we hope you will, be sure to reach out to your fellow students, there's lots of clubs available. Get involved. These are some amazing experiences. 

Meral Kandymova  20:27  
Actually, if you find out that there's no club that exists that would fit your interest, you can create your own. You can create your own. 

Evan Franulovich  20:42  
If you love Dungeons and Dragons, and there's no clubs, start Dungeons and Dragons club, no one will care. That's really great. And people will join too. Yeah, I can't remember, it's sometime in the fall, and then I think in the spring, we do activity day, where all the clubs set up tables, and then you can go visit the different clubs and find out, 'Hey, what am I interested in? Who do I connect with?' It's pretty cool. Did you join any other clubs other than that?

Meral Kandymova  21:10  
Oh my gosh, I remember that I joined issues and concerns committees. So it was kind of just learning what kind of issues, what kind of support students are seeking? So I remember we were working on free stuff for productive health in the bathrooms. So we were kind of focusing on that. I remember, I joined that club and I was in student advocacy my entire path right here.

Evan Franulovich  21:50  
So give it a try. Get out there. Talk to people. So since you were here for a little while, did you apply for any scholarships while you were here? Did you apply for the Foundation Scholarship, for example?

Meral Kandymova  22:05  
Honestly, no. I mean, when I was already graduating from the Institute of English, I was almost done with my quarter, and then they opened the applications for kind of spring quarter and then summer and fall. So that's why I didn't go through there. But I was surprised that we have something like that, because I didn't know that. 

Evan Franulovich  22:05  
Yeah. 

Meral Kandymova  22:10  
The things that I like about Seattle Colleges is that people are trying their best to to inform you. So there's always posts on social media. There's always people standing in the hallways and on campus, professors are gonna tell you. I mean, I'm such a person, I'm not really on social media a lot because of my lifestyle. But I remember, I would come into the class and the professor was telling me about something, and I would ask my classmates, did you guys know about that? They're like, 'Yeah, It was a post on Instagram.' I was like, 'Well, I haven't seen that, but people here are trying their best to inform you.' So in any other way, you will know what's going on here. 

Evan Franulovich  23:25  
I agree, unless you try hard to just stay home and put your head in the sand, make sure you check your email, check the different posts that we put out there. We have physical paper posters on the wall out in the hallway. So lots of ways to find out. Yeah, absolutely. So let's talk a little bit about what you're doing now, because people are like, 'Oh, great, you went to Seattle Colleges, but surely you're working on your bachelor's degree.' Where did you end up? Were you actually ending up finishing up a bachelor's degree?

Meral Kandymova  24:00  
So I recently got into Harvard University. So since I am currently employed, and I'm not really willing to go to another state, because I fell in love with Washington, I fell in love with Seattle. So I was kind of sitting out there. I was like, 'Well, I need to finish my bachelor's degree, but I'm not really interested to go anywhere in the East Coast. But I kind of want to go to school in the East Coast, because I heard that schools out there are really good in law for poli sci students. So I was like, 'Okay, so what are my options?' So I reached out to a few universities, and Harvard said they have this full remote program back for a bachelor's degree for working adults. I was like, 'Oh, that's cool.' That's about me. So I applied, went through, got accepted. So I'm going to do a bachelors in liberal arts, field of government. 

Evan Franulovich  25:05  
Wow, it's really cool. 

Meral Kandymova  25:07  
It's going to be fully remote. That's what I'm so excited about.

Evan Franulovich  25:12  
Do you take a class at a time? Or do you take multiple classes at a time?

Meral Kandymova  25:18  
So they are very kind of flexible, because again, it's kind of like a program for working adults. So you have to take one class minimum to stay in school. But it's a semester system. I'm hoping to take three classes a semester to finish up faster to kind of fit in those four years, because I feel so old. I'm 21, I don't have a bachelor's degree. I mean, for a kid from a post Soviet Union country, I feel pressure. I was like, 'Oh my gosh, I'm so old.' I need to finish that.

Evan Franulovich  25:59  
But that's one of the great things about the US, in my opinion, is that you really can kind of take your time, experiment, do things. I was a non traditional student when I started at a community college. I'd already worked for a year, and then I had been in the military, and then I gotten married, I already had a son. I was like, 'I need an education.' 

Meral Kandymova  26:18  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  26:19  
So yeah, there's no hurry, necessarily, unless you're really just aching to get in your career path right away. 

Meral Kandymova  26:26  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  26:26  
So it shouldn't affect your abilities to succeed.

Meral Kandymova  26:30  
Yeah, I mean, that's what I also like about here. I mean, even remembering my stay here at Seattle Central College, I had a lot of classmates who were in their 30s, in their late 20s. So that's what I like about the US, because in this culture no one's gonna judge you, 'Oh, you're going to college, you're 35.' 

Evan Franulovich  26:53  
No one cares. 

Meral Kandymova  26:53  
My family, they're like, 'Girl, you're 21 you don't have bachelor's. Why you're doing this to our family?' 

Evan Franulovich  27:01  
Well, it'll come eventually, not a big deal, and then it'll be through great institution. When you apply for that program, do they take work that you did here as partial credit, or do you just kind of start fresh? 

Meral Kandymova  27:18  
Well, because I was not born and raised in a English speaking country, because I was born and raised in Turkmenistan, even though I've been in the US for three years already, they were kind of like, 'Technically, you need English proficiency.' 

Evan Franulovich  27:18  
Sure.

Meral Kandymova  27:19  
And my diploma from the Institute of English from here worked, because I send them that and I send them that I graduated with honors, I was the best student twice. I cannot not flex on that. So I send those to them, and they accepted them. 

Evan Franulovich  27:58  
Gotcha. 

Meral Kandymova  27:58  
So that helped me. 

Evan Franulovich  28:00  
And then the other coursework that you took, like the two credit course you took, and then some of the stuff you took?

Meral Kandymova  28:06  
Unfortunately, they didn't. Yeah, they didn't do that. But I was very lucky that they accepted my degree for English. I was like, 'Do I need to take the exam again? I was like, Come on, guys.' 

Evan Franulovich  28:19  
Well, that's really great. Now you say you're working, one of the things you guys should know is that you've actually since gotten your green card. So that's not your typical pathway, but it is an interesting development for you that I thought we would mention. Generally, you're only allowed to work 20 hours per week as an international student, but you have actually gone through and gotten your green card, which is really interesting.

Meral Kandymova  28:45  
Actually, I was working on campus at the information central. 

Evan Franulovich  28:47  
Oh, yeah. 

Meral Kandymova  28:52  
That was also a very interesting experience for me. It was my first ever time working in my life. Yeah, I went through the interview here on campus, I got a job offer to work at the information central. It's kind of like an office which is open from 8am till 4pm, that's a schedule where I was working, and it's kind of like a place where experienced students are sitting at, and we were kind of people who would help other students navigate, or if they have any questions.

Evan Franulovich  29:37  
And not just international students, domestic students as well. 

Meral Kandymova  29:41  
Oh, yeah. We were located right across from the registration office. So, we would answer phone calls about any kind of inquiries, how to get my syllabus, how to access my portal.

Evan Franulovich  30:00  
Yeah, it's a great job actually, because you learn so much.

Meral Kandymova  30:05  
You're not just helping others, you help yourself also, because, like, 'Oh, I already know how to do that and this.'

Evan Franulovich  30:13  
So if you are an international student, not only do you have the International Programs Office front desk that helps out with a lot of different things that you might need, but there is that information office as well. A lot of students ask about finding on campus work. How did you find that job?

Meral Kandymova  30:32  
I found that through my friend back at the time, because she applied for a front desk position at the gym.

Evan Franulovich  30:41  
Oh, yeah, which is a very popular. 

Meral Kandymova  30:44  
Do you still call it MAC? 

Evan Franulovich  30:45  
I do. 

Meral Kandymova  30:49  
And she was like, 'Girl, they have this position at the front desk, but on campus.' So she was not a girl who was more into office type of work. She's more of an active girl. She was applying to MAC, you look like an office girl. I was like, 'Let's try. Let's just give it a shot.' So I got a job offer, and it was very exciting, because it was my first ever job in my life, and it was in the US, getting paid hourly. 

Evan Franulovich  31:23  
And we pay well in the city of Seattle. 

Meral Kandymova  31:27  
Exactly. 

Evan Franulovich  31:27  
Minimum wage is very high.

Meral Kandymova  31:29  
Exactly. 

Evan Franulovich  31:29  
Over $20 an hour. 

Meral Kandymova  31:31  
Exactly. And I was like, I would never get that money back in my home country. 

Evan Franulovich  31:35  
No way. Very few places even in the US. 

Meral Kandymova  31:40  
I mean, Seattle's ranked to have one of the highest minimum wages in the country.

Evan Franulovich  31:47  
There's a reason for that. I mean, it is a expensive place to live. 

Meral Kandymova  31:50  
Oh, yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  31:51  
But we have ways to help reduce the costs, and ways to help offset the costs, and that's why we do it. 

Meral Kandymova  31:57  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  31:58  
So when you did it, you had to interview for the job. You had to get offered the job. And then how long did it take to get your social security card? 

Meral Kandymova  32:07  
That wasn't long, because I remember I got an interview in December, I got a job offer also in December, and then my supervisor, said 'Well, go do your paperwork, but do it in January, because it was almost Christmas and holidays.' So I went to the appointment at Social Security Administration office, got that, and I returned maybe in a week, and they just gave me my number. I just got the number, got here, I gave it to the guys, and I was good to start, and I received my actual card by mail later on, when I was already working. 

Evan Franulovich  32:54  
Some people that get jobs, they don't know the process. So did you actually have to go to an office in-person to apply for your card. Or could you do it online? 

Meral Kandymova  33:03  
In-person. You have to go in there. Very fancy federal building. 

Evan Franulovich  33:09  
Is it?

Meral Kandymova  33:10  
Oh, yeah.

Evan Franulovich  33:10  
Downtown? 

Meral Kandymova  33:11  
Downtown Seattle, yeah. You have to take this small paper with your number, and you just sit there wait for your number, and the line was so long. I technically went through the same process when I was back in Turkmenistan to go through vaccinations and actual written permission from my mother because I was 17. And we did the same thing in Turkmenistan, get the number, look at the paper, sit there. Really, guys in the US? So I went through that again.

Evan Franulovich  33:50  
Was there a fee that you had to pay for it? Do you remember?

Meral Kandymova  33:55  
Honestly, I'm not gonna lie. I don't remember. 

Evan Franulovich  33:58  
It was a while ago. 

Meral Kandymova  33:59  
Yeah, I'm not gonna lie.

Evan Franulovich  34:00  
But it's not a super complicated process.

Meral Kandymova  34:02  
No. I was technically working for student leadership, but on campus office, so they helped me a lot, because they signed all the papers, they mailed somewhere. They got those papers back to me. I was like, 'Okay, guess what do you want me to do?' Just go to the office, get that thing come back. I was like, 'Okay, that's the only thing I need to do.' So my future colleagues, my future supervisors, they were very nice, and they were very supportive. 

Evan Franulovich  34:40  
Cool. Well, we are running out of time. But do you hear that? That means it's Trivia Time! Do you remember the Trivia Time from before? 

Meral Kandymova  34:49  
No. 

Evan Franulovich  34:49  
This is the part of the show where we ask you five questions about Seattle Colleges or Seattle area or Washington state, and we see how you do. If you get all the questions right, you're gonna be on our wall of fame. If not, just cry yourself to sleep tonight. 

Meral Kandymova  35:03  
Okay. 

Evan Franulovich  35:03  
All right. Question number one: Now you have time here at Seattle Colleges, so maybe you might remember that we have three mascots, one for each campus. 

Meral Kandymova  35:15  
Yes. 

Evan Franulovich  35:15  
Can you name the campus mascot for Seattle Central? 

Meral Kandymova  35:21  
Tiger. 

Evan Franulovich  35:21  
It's the Tiger. Nice job. All right. Question number two: Seattle is the largest city in the state of Washington. 

Meral Kandymova  35:33  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  35:33  
What is the largest city in the state of Oregon? The state just to our south? This is a tough question.

Meral Kandymova  35:44  
Why I want to say Portland.

Evan Franulovich  35:46  
It is Portland. Very nice job. Have you been to Portland yet?

Meral Kandymova  35:50  
No, I have not. 

Evan Franulovich  35:52  
Where have you traveled around the US? 

Meral Kandymova  35:53  
I went to Alaska last year. 

Evan Franulovich  35:56  
Why did you go to Alaska? 

Meral Kandymova  35:57  
For my political stuff, for the canvas thing. So I went to Anchorage, and then we went to this kind of countryside village called Wasilla. It was very cold.

Evan Franulovich  36:11  
Yeah, it's only an hour drive from Anchorage.

Meral Kandymova  36:15  
Oh my gosh, we stayed at a house with a lake view. There were only Americans, and I remember this time, it was the last day of our stay there, the lake froze. 

Evan Franulovich  36:31  
Oh. 

Meral Kandymova  36:33  
It was kind of like late October, early November last year. The lake froze, all these crazy guys from Idaho and Washington, who love snow, who love rain, said 'Merry, let's go skate on a frozen lake.' I was like, 'Listen, guys, I'm a child of desert. I'm from the Desert. I don't trust your frozen lake. I'm gonna stay on the land. I can take pictures. I can take videos of your skating, but I'm not stepping my feet on there.' 

Evan Franulovich  37:04  
That's cool. Well, Alaska I've lived there many times, and I love it. I think it's a great place to be.

Meral Kandymova  37:10  
The nature is beautiful, stunning. And I went to DC.

Evan Franulovich  37:17  
Cool. And how long were you in DC?

Meral Kandymova  37:20  
For the weekend. Saturday, Sunday.

Evan Franulovich  37:23  
Gotta go back because there's so much see in DC. 

Meral Kandymova  37:25  
Oh, yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  37:27  
What was the number one thing that you saw that you just thought was crazy? 

Meral Kandymova  37:30  
The White House. Not from the pictures or the books. In Turkmenistan, you have to take English throughout every single class of your school, all 11 years. And in every single English book, there is a picture of the White House from different angles and stuff. I was like, 'I see it in-person with my own eyes, not a picture.'

Evan Franulovich  37:31  
Now you can say you saw the old white house because it's being renovated. 

Meral Kandymova  37:31  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  37:39  
So it's gonna look different now, but you got to see the old one, which was pretty cool. All right. Question number three: When you do go to school at Seattle Central in order to maintain your visa status, you have to take so many credits. Do you remember how many credits you have to take? 

Meral Kandymova  38:21  
12 minimum. 

Evan Franulovich  38:25  
Good job. Very good. All right. Next question: Recently, the World Series just happened, and the Toronto Blue Jays lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers. We're very depressed about that. But in order to get to the World Series, the Toronto Blue Jays had to beat our home team to get there. What is the name of the baseball team here in Seattle?

Meral Kandymova  38:51  
Mariners. 

Evan Franulovich  38:51  
Have you been to a game? 

Meral Kandymova  38:55  
Yes, I remember it was my first two months in the US, and who doesn't know about American baseball? In Twilight movies, they were playing baseball. My best friend, Jordan, she was like, 'Merry, you have to go with me to the mariners game.' I was like, 'Marines, huh? Military? Who are those guys?' And she's like, that's our home team. They're gonna play. Let's go there. I was like, 'Okay.' I did not know anything about the rules. Matter of fact, I do not understand baseball even right now. Poor girl in the cold, she's sitting with me, we're both cold, it was kind of rainy because it was October or something, so it was late in the season. That poor girl, she's trying so hard to explain to me what this guy is doing, why this guy's running. I'm like, I do not understand a thing. Whenever the crowd was cheering, 'Julio!' I was like, 'Julio!' I was like, 'What's happening?' And I also went to a Kraken hockey game with Jordan.

Evan Franulovich  40:16  
Oh, yeah, that's our professional hockey team.

Meral Kandymova  40:18  
Yeah, we were playing against Canada, and we won. 

Evan Franulovich  40:24  
Yeah! 

Meral Kandymova  40:25  
I was so proud.

Evan Franulovich  40:27  
Very proud. Well, what I hear about the Kraken games, you can tell me, if this is true, is the hockey game is great and all, but what's really cool is the light show that they put on before, is that true? 

Meral Kandymova  40:37  
Oh, yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  40:37  
I've never been to a game. 

Meral Kandymova  40:40  
Again, the first time in the hockey game. It was stunning. I mean, everything was new to me. And, yeah, it was very beautiful. 

Evan Franulovich  40:50  
But they must have hockey and Turkmenistan, right? It gets pretty cold there. 

Meral Kandymova  40:53  
We're in the desert. Of course, we have ice skating and stuff. But hockey is not very popular down there. What we call is football, because makes sense, because of the foot and the ball. Americans call it soccer. Soccer is the most popular game to play.

Evan Franulovich  41:00  
So you mentioned Twilight, have you been to forks?

Meral Kandymova  41:05  
No, I want to go there. Actually, I'm re watching for the 19th or whatever time, all the Twilight movies, because I never know the season. But I really want to go there. We're thinking together with Jordan, my best friend.

Evan Franulovich  41:41  
Well, a lot of our international students make the pilgrimage out to Forks so they see where the movies were shot. Do you have a car? 

Meral Kandymova  41:50  
Not right now. 

Evan Franulovich  41:52  
Oh, interesting. 

Meral Kandymova  41:53  
I mean, public transport is really great, especially light rail. Oh my gosh. 10 minutes you're  all the way north. You're in downtown Seattle, and no traffic, nothing. Yeah, especially really nice during rush hours. I mean, when I was coming down here to see you today... 

Evan Franulovich  42:12  
Thank you for coming up. 

Meral Kandymova  42:14  
Thanks for having me. Yeah, it was really nice.

Evan Franulovich  42:18  
You came from Lynnwood? 

Meral Kandymova  42:19  
No, I came from Northgate.

Evan Franulovich  42:24  
Super close, really close. 

Meral Kandymova  42:26  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  42:26  
Actually, Northgate is where our North Seattle campus is, another great school. You could go to school there, or you go to Central, or you can do both. You can do classes at both. Did you ever take classes at North?

Meral Kandymova  42:39  
No, only Central Seattle.

Evan Franulovich  42:42  
All right. Last question, this is by far the most difficult, what was the last movie that you saw in the movie theaters?

Meral Kandymova  42:51  
I went to the movies with my three years old cousin, and we watched Smurfs.

Evan Franulovich  43:01  
So silly. But she must have had a good time.

Meral Kandymova  43:06  
Oh, yeah, she drained all my money. That kid is very spoiled.

Evan Franulovich  43:14  
I think when we first did our first episode, she'd just been born, right?

Meral Kandymova  43:19  
Yeah, because she was born in May 2022, I got to the US in August 2022. 

Evan Franulovich  43:28  
Cool. Fun to watch her grow up.

Meral Kandymova  43:31  
That's sad, because she's getting bigger and bigger. She now talks, she cursed in Russian. 

Evan Franulovich  43:41  
So when you speak with her, which language do you use?

Meral Kandymova  43:46  
We prefer to use Russian. To kind of keep our native language, we try to use Turkmen, some  Turkmen words, to kind of keep her kind of bonded with that, because her mother is Ukrainian. So it's kind of like a mix of USSR countries. I mean, whenever she's gonna go to school, she's gonna pick up English very fast. I mean, it's a kid. So that's why we kind of try to focus more on Russian Turkmen.

Evan Franulovich  44:19  
So does mom use Ukrainian with her?

Meral Kandymova  44:21  
No, because her mother is from the kind of eastern side of Ukraine, which is more Russian speaking. 

Evan Franulovich  44:34  
Cool. 

Meral Kandymova  44:35  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  44:36  
Well, very good. I'd say that's a Wall of Famer. Nice job. 

Meral Kandymova  44:39  
Thank you.

Evan Franulovich  44:41  
Great. Always like to end the episode. Sadly, we have to bring this to a close, but I always like to end the episode with two things, and we didn't do this in season one, so this is kind of cool for you. I'm asking students or alumni, whatever, to speak like 15-20 seconds in their first language. Now you speak a number of languages. But since you're from Turkmenistan, I'm going to say, can you do like, maybe 15-20 seconds in Turkmen? Because I haven't had any students do that. Can you do that? 

Meral Kandymova  45:10  
Let's try. Let's remember my Turkmen language.

Evan Franulovich  45:14  
So it sounds like you really speak Russian most of the time?

Meral Kandymova  45:18  
Yeah, my family all went to school during the USSR, to colleges during USSR. 

Evan Franulovich  45:25  
If you would rather speak Russian you can, but I'd love to hear Turkmen, if you don't mind. 

Meral Kandymova  45:30  
Let's try. 

Evan Franulovich  45:31  
All right, let's give it a shot. So whatever you want to say. If you just want to encourage students back in the region, or you can say hi to your family back home, or you can do both, whatever you want to.

Meral Kandymova  45:40  
*Meral's message in Turkmen & Russian*

Evan Franulovich  46:49  
Thanks so much. That was great. Last question, and I may have done this first season, I can't remember now, but we always ask for words of wisdom. You've been through the process now. You've been at Seattle Colleges, spent a lot of time here, made a lot of friends, were very involved. You're still kind of connected with people in the place, other students back in your region maybe want to come if they're from one of the stans or one of the Middle Eastern countries, what advice would you give them?

Meral Kandymova  47:23  
Do not lock yourself up. Do not be afraid of talking to people. Because again, whenever you're gonna come here, if you're gonna come to the US, our campus, anywhere, by locking yourself up and being shy, you're going to miss a lot of opportunities. You're going to miss your friends, connections, just meeting people. So do not lock yourself up. Do not be shy. Everyone is different. You don't have to speak English perfectly. People will not expect much from you from the first time. So just be open, and talk to people. That's how you're going to learn. That's how I learned everything. When I didn't understand anything I would interrupt my professor, and be like, 'Hey, could you please explain that to me?' Because that's why we're here. That's why we're here, to learn and explore new stuff, to get to know other people. So I would say, don't be shy. No one would expect so much from you, and you don't have to speak perfect English, because I've met so many people who are currently my friends. When they just got here, they were so shy to even say something in English, because they were thinking people are gonna judge them. No, a lot of guys English is their third or fourth language. Don't do that. 

Evan Franulovich  48:59  
Go for it. We won't mind, especially here on campus. No one cares. 

Meral Kandymova  49:04  
Exactly. 

Evan Franulovich  49:05  
Very cool. So you have a lot of domestic and international friends. You have a nice mix.

Meral Kandymova  49:11  
Oh, yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  49:12  
Cool

Meral Kandymova  49:13  
We're still keep in touch. And our friend Sean from South South Korea, he actually was in Seattle just for one day, I think, in September or something. 

Evan Franulovich  49:25  
So you guys got together?

Meral Kandymova  49:27  
Unfortunately not, because of his schedule. 

Evan Franulovich  49:31  
Yeah, stay in touch. 

Meral Kandymova  49:33  
Yeah, still in touch.

Evan Franulovich  49:34  
Great advice, definitely. That's gold. Take advantage of that advice, because that's really good. 

Meral Kandymova  49:41  
That's how you're gonna learn about everything. If you're gonna just stay shy, you will not expand your vision, you're not gonna spend your worldview. 

Evan Franulovich  49:51  
For sure. Get out there. 

Meral Kandymova  49:54  
Everyone makes mistakes. Yeah, that's human nature.

Evan Franulovich  49:59  
For sure. 

Meral Kandymova  50:00  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  50:00  
Well, thanks so much for making the time today. I'm glad we finally were able to connect. 

Meral Kandymova  50:05  
Thank you for having me. 

Evan Franulovich  50:07  
Oh, of course. And you know, maybe in another four years, Season Eight, you come back. Tell us all about your degree plan.

Meral Kandymova  50:13  
I'll take you at your word. 

Evan Franulovich  50:16  
Yeah, that would be great. I hope we'll be able to do it. 

Meral Kandymova  50:20  
Hopefully. 

Evan Franulovich  50:21  
We're in season four. I mean, another four seasons, no problem. We got this. 

Meral Kandymova  50:25  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  50:26  
And thank you guys for joining us. Appreciate you supporting the show. We're here every Wednesday, offering up words of wisdom, giving you information about coming to community colleges, whether it's our school or some other school. We hope you'll choose Seattle, because it's a great place to be. You'd said in our interview that you just love Seattle. What do you love so much about it?

Meral Kandymova  50:46  
Oh, the coffee. Oh, my God. There's so many options. 

Evan Franulovich  50:55  
Every corner. 

Meral Kandymova  50:57  
Oh yeah. And my family's here. And just the nature, the weather. I mean, it is rainy.

Evan Franulovich  51:06  
You're a desert girl. How is the weather? Let's be honest. Because I just came back from Saudi Arabia, just came back from the Caribbean, and I got that question a lot. They're like, 'What's the weather really like in Seattle?' So let's talk about the whole year.

Meral Kandymova  51:19  
Well, it mainly rains, but the summer is very nice. 

Evan Franulovich  51:25  
Summers are gorgeous.

Meral Kandymova  51:26  
Yes, maybe late spring, early fall, a little bit. I mean, you have to sacrifice your winter for that beautiful summer. The nature is beautiful. I mean, you're just gonna drive like one hour, even down to Olympia, like that area, stunning, beautiful. All the lakes, everything,

Evan Franulovich  51:51  
Very green. 

Meral Kandymova  51:51  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  51:52  
So it does rain in the state of Washington, but not as bad as most people say. It kind of drizzles, and it does get dark in the winter because we are north and stuff. But for a desert girl, she says, it's not bad. 

Meral Kandymova  52:04  
I mean, listen, I had to get used to it, because my first year, I was calling my mother and my grandma every single day saying 'I hate it here. Why did you tell me to come here? I want to go to Texas.' 

Evan Franulovich  52:17  
No, don't go to Texas. 

Meral Kandymova  52:21  
Initially I wanted to go to Texas or Arizona or Florida. But they were like, 'Hey, listen, maybe try Washington. Your uncle says it's really nice there.' I don't want to go there. But I was like, 'If my parents say, Let's try.' because then I will be able to easily move there, because I will be already here, yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  52:42  
She never left. 

Meral Kandymova  52:44  
Look at me now. I love it.

Evan Franulovich  52:47  
You will too. So thanks for joining us guys. Every Wednesday. Don't forget to like, share and subscribe. Have a great week. We'll see you again soon. Hang around. Don't be a stranger. Bye, bye.

Meral Kandymova  53:00  
 Bye.

Evan Franulovich  53:07  
Conversations with! is painstakingly crafted for you by the Seattle Colleges International Programs department and supported by the lovely folks here on our campus. This show is produced and edited by me, Evan Franulovich. We welcome your emails and questions about coming to Seattle Colleges. Please reach out to us via our website or just give us a rating and a review on Apple podcasts as this helps others discover the show. Also, don't forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or YouTube at Seattle Colleges Intl. And be sure to check out all of the shows here on 'Conversations with!' Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week.